Nothing prevents Pashinyan from recognising Azerbaijan's territorial integrity Farhad Mammadov's arguments

Head of the South Caucasus Research Centre Farhad Mammadov published an article in his Telegram Channel, refuting claims of some Yerevan elite that Armenian legislation allegedly prohibits Pashinyan to recognise the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

"Although Azerbaijan (AR) and Armenia (RA) are going to recognise each other's territorial integrity within 86.6 thousand km2 and 29.8 thousand km2, part of the Armenian elite is trying to justify the impossibility of concluding a peace treaty.

The Armenian Constitution

On August 23, 1990, Armenia adopted a Declaration of Independence. The Declaration refers to the act of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR of December 1, 1989, which considers Karabakh to be part of Armenia. In turn, the preamble of the 1995 Constitution of Armenia (CA) refers to the Declaration of Independence. Because of the indirect reference in the preamble to the 1989 act, part of the Armenian establishment argues that a peace agreement recognising Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan contradicts the Armenian constitution. To buy time Pashinyan may raise the issue of amending the constitution, but in reality, there is no need for this.

The fact is that all the fundamental agreements signed by the RA with other actors imply recognition of territorial integrity. According to the international community/law, Armenia's territory is 29,800 km2. The bilateral defence agreements with Russia, the Collective Security Treaty of 1992, as well as all other agreements signed with other countries, imply the territorial integrity of Armenia as 29,800 square kilometers. Thus, if all these agreements have been approved by the Constitutional Court (CC) as compliant with the Armenian Constitution, then the peace agreement recognising Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan cannot also contradict the Armenian Constitution. Otherwise, without exception, all the important international agreements should also be declared unconstitutional.

1991 vs. 1989

Some people refer to the "referendum" of December 10, 1991, and say that Karabakh seceded from Azerbaijan in 1991. Leaving aside the fact that this "referendum" is not recognised by anybody, a logical question arises: If according to the act of 1989, Karabakh and Armenia are one entity, from whom in 1991 the Karabakh Armenians declared their "independence"? From Azerbaijan or from Armenia? Regardless of the answer, the "events" of 1991 and 1989 cancel each other out.

The decision of 1992

Under the July 8, 1992 "decision" of the Supreme Soviet (SC) of Armenia, any legal act recognising Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan is considered "unacceptable". Since the decision was made by the SC, it is assumed that only parliament can repeal it. In fact, according to the CA (Article 5) and the 2018 Law on Normative Acts (Article 2, 37), it is laws (not decisions) that take precedence over government acts. In other words, a peace agreement signed by the prime minister would automatically override the 1992 decision.

Ratification

According to the law of March 23, 2018 "On International Treaties", the ratification procedure is as follows:

a. The text of the agreement must first pass the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Justice, and Finance and receive their approval (Article 11);

b. The treaty signed on the basis of approval of the ministries must be sent to the CC (Article 12);

c. The agreement adopted by the CA has to be ratified by the parliament and confirmed by the president (Article 13).

According to Article 103 of the CA, important acts are adopted by a 3/5 majority vote of parliament. In the 2021 elections, the Civil Contract party won 71 of the 107 seats in Parliament. Pashinyan's "personnel reforms" in the CC, the government, and the presidential institution have strengthened his position in all branches of government. This means that if a peace agreement is signed, Pashinyan will be able to push it through the CC, ratify it with a 3/5 majority (64 deputies), and have it approved by the president," Mammadov writes.